Sage of the Foxes
by IamArchi
Summary: Teleported from his parents at birth, read as Naruto returns from being trained by the Foxes to become the next Fox Summoner. The Kyuubi is sealed within his twin sister, Natsumi.
1. Chapter 1

"Minato!" Kushina screamed in fright and fatigue. She had just finished giving birth, and was extremely exhausted from the entire ordeal. She was so exhausted in fact, that when she saw the mysterious man kill the nurse and take her daughter, she had not notice that she had given birth to a son as well. In fairness to Kushina, before she was able to see what was inside of the small bundle in the nurses arms, her son had already disappeared to another place.

'At least I was able to rescue one of the kits, hopefully the elders will protect it, and maybe rescue me as well' A deep voice rumbled inside of Kushina's seal before going back to sleep. That kind of technique came with quite a lot of exhaustion after all.

Once Minato heard Kushina's scream, he turned around to see a masked man holding his child in his arms.

(Not going to cover what happened, since it is the same as the manga/anime except for the fact that Minato and Kushina both live)

_Back to the main character, the son of Minato and Kushina:_

Far, far away, a child with blond hair and blue eyes suddenly appeared in the middle of a grassy plain. It's wailing disrupted the sound of the natural wild, and before long creatures went to investigate what was causing all this racket in the middle of their territory.

Once the four-legged creatures arrived at the source of the noise, they began to yip curiously at the bundle of cloth that was making so much noise. Luckily for the human, a rather larged sized animal arrived on the scene and began talking to the creatures.

"What is going on here, kits?" a large fox questioned.

A series of yips met his question because the foxes were unable to speak human tongue yet due to their young age.

'The smell on this package is that of a human, but on top of that I can smell something very powerful. I should report this to the elders, it has the faintest smell of an old fox.' The kitsune thought to himself.

"Alright kits, go play around a while longer. I will take this thing before the elders." The kitsune said before grabbing the bundle with his teeth, careful not to hurt whatever was inside, and walked off into the surrounding woods. The fox kits just yipped happily and began playing again.

The large fox carried the young child all the way across the forest to the far side, where an extremely large burrow extended deep underground. Into the darkness the duo went, until the fox halted in front of a large room that contained two small chairs and a large throne of sorts made up of elaborate cushions. One of the occupants decided to ask the question that was on the three elder's minds.

"Miji, why have you come before us with a package that keeps making noise?" a rather small yellow fox asked.

"Elder Fox Sages, I found this bundle in the middle of the West clearing with nothing else on it. It smells like a human kit, but I can also smell an ancient fox inside his Chakra." Miji replied.

"Bring the kit up here so that I may smell it." The red fox spoke up for the first time, the true Elder Fox Sage just sat back and contimplated how a human child could end up inside his territory.

Once the red fox was able to smell it, his face instantly lit up in recognition. "This kit was brought here by Kurama-kun! We haven't seen Kurama-kun in so long, but if he sent this kit here, it must be for a good reason. I say we keep the kit here for the time being."

His partner, the yellow fox looked at the child for no longer than a second before succumbing to the natural caring nature of all foxes, and agreeing.

The Elder Sage decided then to make his announcement that he had been pondering for centuries. "The child will become our Summoner, as we have been in need of one since the last one passed away so long ago. To become our Summoner, this kit will need to be trained in the ways of the foxes, eventually including how to harness Nature Energy. I will monitor his progress, as well as the Fox Clan's. We have gotten lax in our training since our last Summoner, but we will retake our Title of being as powerful as the Toads and the Snakes!"

At this point, one of the lesser Sages asked a question, "Who will train the boy?"

"Seeing how your wife has already taken a shine to the kit, you both will raise him. I hope we will all get stronger because I sense a great evil that is plotting to take over the world."

Nodding their heads, the large fox, and the two small Fox Sages all left the room with the Sages holding the child. This was going to be a difficult few years before the boy was old enough to fend for himself.

Timeskip Six Years

"Naruto-kun, it's time for you to come inside from playing!" Naruto's "mother" called out from inside their little den.

"Be right there!" Naruto yelled back before bolting towards their home. He was extremely excited to get to his home because today was the day that he would begin learning how to become the next Fox Summoner. He had be given a childhood with the other fox kits, but today was the day that it ended. As he walked into the den, he looked back and waved to his friends before disappearing inside.

"Naruto-kun follow us." His "father" said before leading his wife and Naruto down a dark, but warm, hallway.

"Since we are the Fox Sages tasked with teaching new Summoners, we know all about how humans fight as well. Behind this door was where we always housed our Summoners while they trained, and this room is filled with items that a human shinobi will need to be powerful. We will not return to this room until you are 10, but we agreed that showing you what you will be learning will be acceptable. Let me just open this door and… here we are!" Naruto's "father" swung the door wide open and the trio all walked inside.

Suddenly, they were all stunned by the light inside before Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground. He had always known about the Fox Warriors of his Clan, but to see weapons and armor that humans used for combat was something else. The large room was filled with weapons of every sort, and shelves housing different scrolls of every size.

Before Naruto could become too attached to this room, his parents escorted him out and shut the door. All the way back, Naruto was going on and on about the different cool things he saw in there before they finally emerged from the den and stood outside.

"Okay Naruto, we are going to train you to the bone for 6 years." His mom said before Naruto raised his hand.

Upon being allowed to speak, Naruto asked why he would only be getting trained for six years. The answer was that he was going to infiltrate Konoha in the human world to find out the identity of the Jinchuriki who housed the Boss of their Clan, Kurama.

"I'm going to meet humans?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yes, son. But first we need to get you strong enough to take on your opponents. Starting at this point, we are no longer your parents, but we are Fox Sages training our Summoner. Begin, Naruto!"

_Timeskip 6 years:_

All of the foxes had gathered to see the young kit they had all grown to love leave their world and join the humans in Konoha. Over the course of the training with the foxes, Naruto's appearance changed drasticly. Of course there was the usual muscle, height, weight, and clothing difference, but Naruto's hair and eyes changed as well. After dealing with Nature Energy all the time for years, his inner Uzumaki traits emerged and his hair turned into a vibrant shade of red. His eyes changed in favour of his real mom as well, and they became a violet shade. All in all, he looked just like an Uzumaki, and that was what they were going for. The foxes were hoping that he could enter Konoha under to guise of him being an Uzumaki, none of the foxes actually knowing that he in fact was of the main branch of Uzumaki.

"Well it was nice getting to know you all, I hope to return soon with Kurama-sama!" Naruto yelled before getting reverse Summoned by his "mother" outside the gates of Konoha. After seeing her return to their world, Naruto turned around and made his way to the front gates.

Naruto stopped and stared at the impressive size of the gates that towered over him. The Chuunin who guarded the gate, Izumo and Kotetsu, saw the kid staring up at the gate and called him over.

Upon hearing himself being called over, Naruto walked towards the guards.

"Hello." Naruto kindly said, wary of talking to another human.

"Hey kid, what's your reason for entering the Hidden Leaf?" Izumo asked, having already noticed that the kid in front of them was a ninja from the gear he had and the way he scoped out everything around him.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm here to join this village as a ninja."

'Well, the kid does look a ton like Kushina-san, so he's deffinitely an Uzumaki, but just to be sure…' Izumo thought before saying, "Well if you are who you claim you are, then might I ask where your parents are?"

"Ah, Shinobi-san, I sometimes ask myself the same thing." Naruto said while pretending to look upset at that topic being brought up.

After realizing that it would be too much work to deal with an emotional brat, Kotetsu helped his partner out by just giving Naruto a passport and telling him to head to the Hokage Tower in the center of the village.

The walk to the Hokage Tower wasn't too far, and before long Naruto found himself standing directly in front of the Fourth Hokage.

"Ah, another Uzumaki. That's good, my wife will be glad to hear that we have located another family member. Well Naruto, as you are an orphan just coming to the Leaf, I will arange for an apartment to be given to you with the first two months already paid. By then you should already have either a job or a career as a ninja and will be able to afford the rent yourself. Here is the key to your apartment, and if you do decide to become a ninja, the Graduation at the Academy will be occuring tomorrow, should you decide to go."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I would like to join the students for their test if you don't mind." Naruto replied.

"Of course not, I'll let Iruka know that you will be coming. Welcome to Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki. If you will excuse me, I have another apointment." Minato wearily said before walking off into another room.

Seeing no other option, Naruto left the room as well, having noticed the 3 ANBU hiding in the room with his Nature Chakra skill.

Deciding to take a walk to explore Konoha, Naruto set off in a random direction. Before long, he came across three kids his age walking out of a BBQ place. One of them was kind of chubby and seemed extremely excited about food, the next one was loud and arrogant sounding, based on his facial markings Naruto knew he belonged to the Inuzuka Clan. Finally, the only kid who seemed to notice Naruto observing their group. Nothing about him really stood out, but deep beneath his eyes, Naruto could tell that this person was extremely intelligent. Deciding to greet them, Naruto walked across the street.

"Hello there, my name is Naruto. I'm new to Konoha, and I was wondering if you three would be so kind as to tell me where my apartment is located at."

Naruto already found his apartment, having walked passed it on his way here, but he wanted to test what these humans would say.

"Welcome to the village, Naruto. My name is Choji, and these are Shikamaru and Kiba. Your apartment complex is is probably back down that road behind you." The large one named Choji replied.

"Ah, okay thank you Choji. Are you three going to be taking the Graduation Exam tomorrow?" Naruto hesitantly asked.

"Yes we are, why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because I am taking it as well, and I thought it would be a good idea to get to know possible future teammates."

"Well as much as I wish we could stay to help you out, Naruto. It's getting rather late and our mothers would unleash a Hell upon us if we were late getting back home." The one named Kiba replied before the three separated and went home.

That last comment about mothers actually made Naruto a little sad at the fact he never knew who his mom really was. Sure the Fox Sage's had been like parents to him, but Naruto always knew that there was someone out there that was his real parent.

On his way back to his apartment, Naruto wasn't watching where he was going and accidently hit someone. Neither one fell to the ground, signifying that both were shinobi.

"Sorry lady. I wasn't watching where I was going…" Naruto broke off having seen the face of the person he bumped into.

"It's okay, kid. Just be more careful next time." Kushina replied before walking off, never noticing that the kid she bumped into was an Uzumaki, or that it was actually her son.

'She looked just like me! Could she have been..? No. I gave up that hope long ago, just focus on why you are here Naruto.'

Determined not to be swayed by the appearance of someone who he might be related to, Naruto ran back to his apartment complex by using the rooftops. Tommorow he would be meeting his possible teammates, and he would be ready. After deciding that he would need furniture in his apartment, Naruto fell asleep on the bed wondering how he was going to fit in with the human kids.

Naruto awoke to the sound of his alarmclock beeping loudly. Annoyed, Naruto threw the offending item across the room where it shattered. The good thing about shonobi alarm clocks was that they were meant to break upon waking up an annoyed shinobi, so they were easily put back together after shattering. Naruto got dressed into his black and orange outfit, strapped on his shurkien pouch, and headed off to the academy.

Once he arrived at the academy, Naruto had a little trouble finding his class. Instead of locating his classroom, he found Kiba, and together they walked to the classroom.

Kiba went and sat in a certain seat while Naruto just looked around for an empty one. He noticed one at the far back between a cute girl with lavender pupil-less eyes, and a tall someone mysterious boy wearing dark shades. He took his seat in between them and focused back on the front, not noticing the girl glancing at him every now and then.

Abruptly, a Chuunin instructor walked into the class and everyone quited down.

"Alright class today we will be taking the exam to see if you pass and become a Genin. First up is the written part of the exam." Iruka said before he began passing out papers along with his silver-haired assistant. Once he got to Naruto, Iruka announced to the class that they had a new student who would be taking the exams with them. He smiled at Naruto and finished passing out papers.

"Alright everybody, begin!" Iruka ordered before all the students dove into their test.

Naruto was a little bit worried, after all he was never really good at written stuff, but his "parents" trained him well, and he knew he would pass. Luckily, since the Forth Hokage's rule, the Academy had cut out a lot of the unimportant stuff like Chakra theory and history, so Naruto was able to answer most of the questions with upmost confidence.

After the written exam was taken up, they were all led outside.

"Alright everyone line up, and we will begin the accuracy test. Kiba, looks like your first." Iruka announced before stepping back and allowing Kiba to throw his kunai and shuriken. Surprisingly for one of that paticular clan, Kiba was able to land 7 shuriken and 8 kunai out of ten each. A small chorus of clapping met his actually decent score.

This continued with most of the civilian students averaging around 5 each, while the clan students averaged around 7, a blonde haired girl with stunning blue eyes scored a nine on both, 'her name was something like Natsiki or something' Naruto thought. Finally, there were only two students left, a black haired boy that most of the girls swooned over, and Naruto himself.

"Sasuke Uchiha, please come up and throw." The boy did just that while somehow maintaining his arrogant posture, he made sure that his fan girls were looking before launching all his weapons at once. All of them arced in the air and flew into a perfect bulls eye, all except one that flew too far to the right, and bounced off the post completely. Sasuke scowled in annoyance before walking back to talk to his girls. Ever since the Hokage had eliminated conspirators inside the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke has trained harder than ever to catch up to Itachi, but with no avail, Itachi was just a protegy.

"Last we have Naruto Uzuamki!" Iruka called out, excited to see what this young kid could do.

Naruto, despite not wanting to draw too much attention to himself, decided on copying the Uchiha's movement to put the arrogant sudent back in his place. Suddenly, all of his weapons flew at once, nearly double the speed Sasuke threw them at. And sure enough, they all hit true. Naruto was awarded a perfect score as he went back to stand beside the pretty blonde haired girl that showed she was serious about being a ninja.

"Wow, where have you been all my life? I've been trying to put Sasuke in his place since I first met him, but with no avail. My name is Natsumi Namikaze, yours is Naruto right?" At the sight of him smiling and nodding, Natsumi continued, " Well hopefully you'll be on my squad, I'd hate to have to put up with many of these other students who hardly take being a ninja seriously."

"I wouldn't mind being partnered up with someone strong like you. Compared to these other students minus Sasuke, you might as well already be a Jonin." At the sound of hearing her laugh, Naruto felt a strange attraction to her. Before he could ponder it much longer, the class was led away to the sparring ring, for the Taijutsu test.

One by one, students got called up to face against the instructors. No one really did much damage to the instructor Mizuki except for Natsumi and Sasuke. She sent him flying out of the box from the force of her kick, and Sasuke swept him onto his back before axe kicking his chest. Seeing that his assistant could no longer fight, Iruka himself got into the ring to face off against the only remaining student, Naruto.

"Begin!" Iruka called and settled into a defensive stance, expecting Naruto to do the same; however, Naruto, using the Fox style of fighting, jumped forward and lashed out with a flurry of feints and light hits. By focusing on speed rather than strength, Naruto was able to completely demolish his stronger but far slower opponent. Once he felt he scored enough hits, Naruto stopped and helped his instructor to his feet.

"That was good Naruto, I had completely forgotten that you would probably be using a style different than the normal academy taught style, and that cost me the match. Alright everyone, come inside for the final test, the ninjutsu portion." Iruka said before limping into the classroom.

"Wow Naruto, you're just full of surprises aren't you?" Natsumi laughed before walking beside Naruto and sitting in her seat. Naruto didn't reply, but he did smirk at her, and that sent shivers down her spine, but she didn't know why.

One by one, the academy students were called up to enter the back room to take the final test and receive their headband. Some came out with a Konoha symbol, some did not. All of the Clan kids did, and soon enough Naruto was getting called into the back room.

"Alright Naruto, all we need is a Kawarmi, a Henge, and a Bushin. Begin." Iruka announced.

Before Iruka could sit back down, he found himself in the middle of the room while Naruto sat in his chair. Naruto switched them back before Iruka could complain, and soon enough Naruto appeared like Sasuke before removing the henge as well.

"Excellent so far Naruto, now all we need is a Bushin and you pass." Iruka called out.

Naruto slightly paled at the news because he new through all his training that he still had way too much Chakra to use for something so small as a Bushin. Deciding that passing the test was more important that his honor, Naruto used a Genjutsu he was taught by the Fox Sages to create what looked like three regular Bushin.

"Alright Naruto, you pass!" Iruka said before let Naruto choose what color head protector he wanted, Naruto went with black and exited the room.

"Alright students, you are to come back here tomorrow to be assigned your Genin squads. Good luck out there in the ninja world, I hope to see all of you surpass myself and become powerful shinobi. Dismissed." Iruka said, beaming with pride at his students.

Iruka selfless desire actually made an impact on Naruto, and change the way he was taught to feel about humans. 'Maybe there not all bad like The Great Elder Sage says.'

As Naruto was leaving, he caught sight of Mizuki talking to Natsumi in a hushed whisper. After seeing her speed off, Mizuki laughed evilily before heading off in a different direction. After deciding that something wasn't right here, Naruto decided to follow Natsumi.

It was about dinner time when Natsumi burst out of the Hokage Tower with a large scroll around her back, and took off into the woods. Naruto then saw, Mizuki emerge and run off to somewhere else. 'Somethings not right here, I should wait and then make my move.

Somewhere far away, Natsumi was busy reading a jutsu from the scroll. Before she could write it down and practice it, Iruka jumped down in front of her and started demanding answers from her. Before she could give a detailed reason, Mizuki appeared and disabled Iruka from fighting. He then told Natsumi about how she was the Demon Fox Himself, but of course her parents had already told her that at a young age. Still, she ended up being no match for Mizuki and just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, Natsumi disappeared right before his very eyes. He stopped about mid swing, and stood straight up expecting a shunshin. He was unprepared, however, when the new kid Naruto Uzumaki stepped out of the forest.

Deciding to take out another threat to Orochimaru's plans, swung at the boy and severed his head from his shoulders. Before he could gloat over his apparent victory, he felt a sharp pain in his right foot. But when he looked down, he saw nothing. Deciding that he should be focusing on the boy, Mizuki stayed still and tried to understand his surroundings. Somehow, Mizuki was having trouble making out the tree lines because they all swirled together. Suddenly, a similar pain to his left foot appeared, but he hadn't noticed anything, in fact, he was feeling very tired. It couldn't hurt to just rest his eyes for one moment right, in fact, he felt a small pain at the back of his neck, and his wish was granted.

Outside of Mizuki's dream world, Naruto was tending to Natsumi who was slightly wounded. Just a light scrape here and there, but Natsumi was too busy watching Mizuki stare out into the distance to watch Naruto.

"How come he isn't attacking us, Naruto?" Natsumi asked.

"I have him in a powerful genjutsu, he could have broken out of it once he felt my first Kunai nail him to the ground through his foot, but his mind had already been manipulated before so this was easy." Just as Naruto was about to carry the scroll and Natsumi back to the village, a bright yellow flash appeared blinding everyone before the Fourth Hokage appeared holding a tri-pronged kunai in one hand, and a fully formed Rasengan in the other. He looked around wildly before noticing Natsumi and Naruto.

"Step away from my daughter, theif." Minato began before, Natsumi pointed at the figure of Mizuki.

Upon turning around and seeing Mizuki, Minato began to understand the entire situation. After a few questions that Naruto and Natsumi answered, a squad of ANBU arrived and took the scroll and Mizuki back to the village.

"Well what an evening, I found out that my one of my own ninja was a traitor, and that another of my ninja is a hero. Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki for protecting my daughter."

"It was nothing, Hokage-sama." Replied nervously, not used to this much gratitude.

"It was not nothing, and I would very much like to have you over for dinner tomorrow evening if that is okay?" Minato beamed with a twinkle in his eye.

"Um, sure Hokage-sama."

"Please just call me Minato." Minato replied before teleporting them all inside his office.

"Of course, Hok..Minato-sama" Naruto replied.

"Well I feel like all three of us could use a good night's sleep, so goodnight Naruto, Natsumi and I are heading home."

"Bye, Naruto-kun!" Natsumi said brightly, with the tiniest of blushes adorning her face.

Before Minato or Naruto could ask about the "-kun", the seal activated and Minato and Natsumi disappeared, leaving Naruto to run home at near Jonin speeds.

After the usual routine, Naruto awoke and found himself back inside the academy to find out who his squad members would be. He just hoped that he would have Natsumi on his team, last night he was assualted with dreams involving him and Natsumi, and he just always felt tingly whenever she was around.

"Alright ninjas, today we are going to announce who your squad is, along with your Jonin teacher. Team 1…" Naruto zoned out as he and Natsumi had a small conversation about Genjutsu vs. Ninjutsu. He had been trained by the foxes to be exceptional in Genjutsu, but she had been taught by her parents to use ninjutsu.

"Team seven, Natsumi Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha, and…" everyone waited on the edge of their seats as the cruel author continued writing meaningless words to keep the suspense growing, "…Kiba, sit back down and shut up I'm still going over the list, where was I? Naruto Uzumaki! Your Jonin instructor is Kakashi Hatake. Team eight will be Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, your teacher is Kurenai Yuhi. Team nine is still in rotation, so team ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara, your teacher will be Asuma Sarutobi. Every, good luck in your career! Your Jonin sensei's will arrive to escort you." With that, Iruka left the room, leaving all the Genin to talk about their teams.

Ino was a bit sad that Sakura didn't pass the exam because of her poor throwing and taijutsu. Sakura was all book smarts, and it was better that she be given another year of training instead of getting herself killed in the field.

Naruto was both happy that he got Natsumi, but a bit peeved he got the almighy Uchiha. Deciding to make amends, the two walked over to the Uchiha and tried to get a conversation going. Sasuke either replied with "hn", or not at all, and eventually Naruto and Natsumi just started talking with each other, neither one realizing that what they were doing would be considered flirting. They were just having a good time while watching the students leave in groups of three. Before long, their sensei appeared and took them away as well.

Once they got to the rooftops there sensei ordered them to sit and begin going over introductions.

"Okay you three, my name is Kakashi, and I have a few likes, but also a few dislikes, my hobbies… I have a couple dreams. Okay blondie you're next." Kakashi said before gulping at the dead look in their eyes. It appears they were not amused by his little game at not telling them anything.

Regardless, Natsumi stood up and said, "My name is Natsumi Namikaze, I like training, and learning jutsu from my parents, I dislike traitors, and people who can't tell the difference between a weapon and a shinobi, my hobbies include training and eating ramen. My dream is to become the first female Hokage!" Natsumi proudly announced before reclaiming her seat in the middle.

"Alright, Strawberry you're next."

Naruto stood up and scowled at being called strawberry because of his hair. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I enjoy training as well, I like foxes," at this Natsumi silently gasped but no one noticed, "and I dislike people who put anything above family. My hobbies include playing with foxes, and testing out new Genjutsu. My dream is to locate someone that went missing a long time ago." Kakashi looked at Naruto for a bit before moving on to their last member.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, member of the elite Uchiha Clan. My likes are limited, but my dislikes are very large. My dream is to surpass my brother and become Head of the Clan." Sasuke said before sitting back down.

'So a dedicated kunoichi, a fox-loving genjutsu Uzumaki, and an envious Uchiha, great.' Kakashi thought before standing up once again.

"Alright kids, we will meet at Training Groun 7 tomorrow at nine in order to take the real Genin test," at the sight of their inquisitive looks Kakashi decided to elaborate, "The test at the academy was just to weed out the hopeless causes. This test is to see if you have what it really takes to be a Genin. Oh and don't eat breakfast, or you'll throw up." And with that final note, Kakashi disappeared.

Sasuke left after that, saying something about needing more training to beat Itachi, leaving Naruto and Natsumi to train until dinner at the Namikaze's. They both went to a random training field in order to spar.

"Are you sure you want to spar against me, Natsumi?"

"Definitely! I'll show you how powerful I am!" Natsumi declared before rushing towards Naruto at incredible speeds for a Genin; however, Naruto was used to far faster.

Naruto jumped over her punch and sent a kick down to her shoulder, which she barely managed to dodge. Naruto smirked, this would be fun.

After about half an hour of a one-sided match, Natsumi dropped to the ground, completely spent. Naruto looked at Natsumi while panting slightly. In an ordinary fight, he would have finished it a long time ago, but because he was taking it easy it was tough. Natsumi had definitely learned the Hummingbird style of her father and was very adept as using it, Naruto's bruised ribs were proof of that.

The two were not still for long, as Natsumi suddenly jumped up and began peppering Naruto were ninjutsu attacks. It was obvious that she had gotten a water affinity from her Uzumaki ancestors, which was demonstrated by the sheer number of water bombs launched in his direction. Naruto skillfully dodged all of them before running through handseals himself. He was not going to Summon the Foxes for something as insignificant as a spar, so Genjutsu it is.

Natsumi watched on as Naruto promptly disappeared before her very eyes. Suddenly, she felt lightheaded and sleepy. Upon realizing that her opponent had begun to use Genjutsu, she focused her Chakra and broke out of it. Just in time to dodge a punch to her face, she retailiated with a kunai and widen her eyes when it sunk into Naruto's chest. But then suddenly Naruto turned into a fox and molded into the ground. The area cleared away and suddenly she was aware of laughter behind her. She was abrupty pulled out of this Genjutsu and found herself tied up with rope as Naruto laughed at her misfortune.

After a couple minutes of her screaming at him to untie her, he finally gave in. She, of course, attacked him as soon as she was free with a flurry of kicks. He was able to dodge most of them, but one managed to sneak through, and sent him flying behind a tree.

Suddenly, Naruto grabbed her from behind and held a kunai up to her neck, signaling his win. She stopped struggling, and began pouting at her loss.

"Yes, Natsumi?" Naruto said with mirth.

"Not fair, how did you do that?"

"Well a ninja isn't supposed to give away his secrets, but I suppose I'll tell you." Naruto playfully said, "I let you hit me behind that tree where I would be hidden from view, from there I was able to Shunshin behind you. Seeing as you're fresh out of the academy, I doubt you could have possibly detected my Shunshin." Naruto explained.

"Can you teach me the Shunshin, Naruto?"

"Since we're going to be teammates, I guess I will. Besides, who am I to turn down such a cute girl like yourself." Naruto said before he shunshined home to get ready for dinner at Natsumi's house.

Meanwhile, Natsumi just stood in the middle of the clearing sporting a huge blush. 'He thinks I'm cute! Dattebani!' Natsumi mentally yelled before doing a fist pump and running to her house to get cleaned up as well, tonight was going to be important after all.

Meanwhile, Naruto was busy getting ready in civilian clothing, it wouldn't do to dress in his ninja attire, even though it was pretty stylish. He donned a simple short sleeve T-shirt and shorts before deciding to walk there. All he had to do was ask some random civilian where the Namikaze estate was, and bam, he was on his way.

Even though he barely knew Natsumi, his heart seemed to beat slightly quicker with every step. Soon enough, Naruto found himself knocking on a door that led to a large house.

The door was opened by none other than Minato, who welcomed him gratiously into the house.

"Thank you Minato-sama." Naruto replied before entering the house, remembering to take off his shoes at the door. The foxes had taught him human manners as well.

"Naruto, what did I tell you about calling me "-sama'?" Minato asked with a smile.

"Sorry Minato-san, force of habbit I suppose." Naruto nervously replied.

"Quite okay Naruto, this way please the dinning room is just over here." Minato replied before leading Naruto into a smaller room filled with a square table.

Minato sat at the table next to the women that Naruto had bumped into the day before. She introduced herself as Kushina Uzumaki. To her left was Natsumi, Naruto took the only available seat left to Minto's right, all together they formed a square.

"So, Naruto, mind telling us a little bit about your life before Konoha?" Minato asked, wanting to know more about his daughters savior.

"Well in all honesty, I don't really remember that much. I remember training day after day with a family, but then I can only remember being next to a large lake, somewhere down the line someone told me of Konoha, and I came here to find someone."

"Who could that be?" Kushina asked.

"His name is Kurama, but I don't know where to start looking." Naruto said, not wanting to give them too much information.

"Do you know what he looks like, Naruto?" Minato asked, raking his mind for a ninja named Kurama but coming up blank.

"I'm sorry I don't, all I know is that I am to find him." Naruto replied.

Meanwhile, once Naruto said Kurama, a large set of red eyes opened deep inside of Natsumi's seal. He peered through their shared vision at the boy across the table. He recognized the scent of the boy he teleported so many years ago. Kurama knew he could not contact his host yet, so he just waited until one day when she would appear before him.

Back to the table, "Well I'm sure you'll be able to find him." Natsumi announced.

"I hope so, Natsumi." Naruto replied.

"Well Naruto, I was wondering if you could possibly tell us how strong you are and what techniques you use. To not only defeat Iruka in taijutsu, but to also defeat Mizuki in the same day, only few could be so strong at your age." Minato calmly asked.

"Minato, you can't go around asking people to give away all their secrets!" Kushina said before she saw that look in Minato's eyes. It appeared that even though he appreciated what Naruto did for their daughter, he didn't fully trust him either.

"Actually Kushina-san, It's quite alright. Well if I had to rank myself, I would say that I am at least a Chuunin, maybe a Jonin in speed. One of my most guarded secrets is that I hold a Summoning Contract with the Foxes," at this, all their eyes widened, "and I am extremely proficient with Genjutsu."

"Impressive for one so young, would you possibly humor me with a small spar after we have eaten?" Minato asked.

Before Kushina could beat her husband for being so straight forward, Naruto agreed. The rest of the meal was enjoyable, including the part where Naruto mentioned sparing with Natsumi. Her parents laughed at her embarrassed blush, and internally vowed to step up her training.

Before long, Naruto and Minato were looking at each other across a wide open field. With a start both fighters launched themselves forward at breakneck speeds. Both intending to start with Taijutsu. With a clash, the fight had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the fighters closed the distance between each other, Naruto lashed out with a kick towards Minato's abdomen, which was skillfully blocked. Minato counter-attacked by spinning and launching an axe kick towards Naruto's shoulder, but Naruto disappeared by using a Shunshin. The Taijutsu went on for a bit before Minato jumped back and flew through a series of seals ended by Minato biting his thumb and slamming his palm on the ground. Once Naruto saw Minato bite his thumb, Naruto did as well. Naruto lifted up his sleeve and smeared the blood over a tatoo, which caused a similarly shaped cloud of smoke to appear.

Both Summoners stood behind their large animals; Minato behind a Toad, and Naruto behind a Fox. The Summoning animals breathed out their respective elements, the fox spewing out a large ball of super heated fire, and the toad unleashing a torrent of water. The result was a cloud of steam that covered the entire area. The Summoning animals disappeared and inside the mist, several metallic clangs could be heard.

When the mist finally cleared, Natsumi and Kushina were witnessed to Naruto holding his own against the Hokage of the village. Unfortunately for Naruto, Minato was going easy on him. Just as Naruto was about to use one of his favorite Genjutsus, Minato decided to end it now; he teleported by using his Hirashin, and immediately Naruto was forced to acknowledge defeat once the kunai found its way to his neck.

Both fighters then made their way back over to the two waiting females, complimenting each others fighting style the entire way.

"I never knew that the foxes were so strong. It seems as though they are around the same level as the toads, but I wonder why the foxes are so unheard of."

"It's because they haven't had a Summoner for many centuries, which caused them to wane in their power. Ever since I became the next Summoner, though, they began training as well to reclaim the spot amonst the most powerful Summons."

"Ah I see. Well anyway, thank you once again for saving my little princess's life, we truly owe you a large debt."

"Really, it's fine Minato-san. Thank you for the meal, Kushina-san. See you tomorrow, Natsumi-chan." Naruto said before exiting and walking back to his apartment.

The Namikaze household also went to sleep, all except one who stared up at her ceiling thinking about a certain red-haired boy.

The following morning, Naruto got up and prepared for meeting his squad. Realizing that he only had a few minutes to spare, Naruto shunshined the entire way to Training Ground 7, and was surprised to see Sasuke already there.

He silently sat across from Sasuke, and awaited his last teammate and sensei. Sure enough, Natsumi came strolling up to the a plopped down next to Naruto. After another few minutes, Kakashi appeared.

"Alright listen up kids, let's get started with the test immediately. The object for you is to get these bells. Failure to do so will result to all three of you getting sent back to the academy. You will have one hour to do so, begin!" Kakashi yelled before all three ninja-to-be disappeared from sight.

'Ah good, let's see. Uchiha is up in that tree, Sensei's girl is by the pond, and the Uzumaki is…above me?' Kakashi thought as he looked directly up into the sky to see a hail of kunai aimed right at his head.

Kakashi dove to the side, but was unprepared for the follow up shuriken that made their way into his exposed neck. But, of course, he was only a shadow clone. Kakashi came walking out of the tree line to confront the redhead that was facing him. As Kakashi got closer, he realized that this Naruto was not casting a shadow. Upon dispelling the Genjutsu, he found that Naruto was no where to be found.

'I have to watch out for these kids, they are better than the average Genin.' Kakashi thought as he ran off into the woods, intent on ending whatever they were planning.

"Alright listen guys, I think there's something behind this test. It just doesn't feel right." Naruto tried to explain to Natsumi and Sasuke.

"Whatever, Uzumaki. I think you're just trying to confuse me so that you two can get the bells. Well I'm not gonna stay here any longer, I'm going to get those bells." Sasuke arrogantly replied before disappearing back towards Kakashi.

"Ugh, why won't he listen?" Naruto angrily bit out before Natsumi placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"We can just be his support, Kakashi won't be able to tell the difference." Natsumi said.

"Yea, that sounds alright. Come on, we gotta hurry before Sasuke gets completely dominated." Naruto replied before they bounded off after Sasuke.

With Sasuke, "I'm better than the average Genin, don't underestimate me!" Sasuke yelled before charging at Kakashi. The two exchanged a flurry of taijutsu blows, but it was obvious for every one except Sasuke that Kakashi was merely playing with him.

Suddenly, just as Sasuke was about to get kicked in the chest, a hail of kunai rained down upon them both, forcing Kakashi to jump out of harms way. It was only after he instinctually jumped that he realized Sasuke would not have been able escape in time.

Upon seeing the sight of Sasuke's body, Kakashi lowered his head in shame. It was rare that a kid got killed just out of the academy, but it did happen. Before he could ponder it any longer, he was forced to jump over Sasuke's leg sweep. Only to fall right into Naruto's trap.

When Kakashi was in mid-air, Natsumi launched herself at him with kunai in each hand. Surprisingly, Kakashi didn't realize it was a clone until his palm phased right through her body. Kakashi felt something nip at his bells, but when he looked down they were still there.

Outside of the genjutsu, Naruto watched as Kakashi, Sasuke, and Natsumi were flailing around at imaginary targets. He didn't want to trick his teammates, but everyone needed to believe it was real for this paticularly strong genjutsu to work. Just then, Naruto felt a presence at his ankles and looked down.

"Great job, kit. Ill make sure to summon you again, thanks for grabbing these bells, you did great." Naruto said while patting the fox kit at his feet on the head before watching it poof out of existence.

Naruto decided to end the genjutsu there, and watched pleased as the three ninja stumbled around trying to get their bearings.

Suddenly, a presence landed behind Naruto just as the Kakashi he had imprisoned poofed out of existence as well. He whirled around to see Kakashi eye-smiling at him before he beckoned the other two over.

"Good job team! You all pass!" Kakashi said.

He was met with a smile from Naruto, an excited yell from Natsumi, and a smirk from Sasuke. While they were still confused over watch actually happened, they weren't going to argue with passing.

Kakashi then led them to a large memorial stone. "This is where your name will will go if you are killed in duty. These people are all heros to Konoha, and their sacrifices will always be remembered. Above all remember this line, as it was told to me by a man who is on this stone, 'Ninjas who don't follow the rules are considered trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' I follow those words everyday, and seek to protect my fellow Leaf ninja, just as you should all do in your career." Kakashi said from the heart.

Naruto was amazed at the amount of people who had died for just a village. 'Well if it was my fox den I'd die for it too,' Naruto thought.

Natsumi was humbled by the entire ordeal and swore to protect the village life her dad, and become the Hokage.

Sasuke wondered if Itachi would believe what Kakashi said, and what he should do to be better than Itachi in this regard. Eventually, he settled for vowing to protect those weaker than him, but not at the risk of his own life. He was an Uchiha, and that meant he was better, or at least that's what his father always told him.

Kakashi told them all to meet him back there at 8 for training and a mission the following day, along with getting a new outfit to mark their change from academy to genin. Kakashi then made an excuse, saying he was due to visit the Hokage for Genin reports. He did a little wave before disappearing in a shunshin.

The three disappeared in their different directions, Sasuke to his home to pester his brother. Natsumi to tell her parents she passed. And finally Naruto, who wanted to train a little bit more at the training grounds. 'I should have realized he was a Shadow Clone, why didn't I think of that before I took the bells.'

At the Namikaze household, Minato and Kushina were busy preparing a large celebratory dinner for their daughter passing the Genin exam. Natsumi was excitedly going over the exam in its entirety, including the part where Naruto trapped her and Sasuke inside a genjutsu in order to retrieve the bells. Minato resolved to get to know Natsumi's blond teammate a little be more.

Meanwhile, Naruto was busy perfecting some of his fox genjutsu. It wasn't the same without having someone to test it on, but Naruto was still able to review ones he had perfected long ago. He was busy doing this for about 30 minutes before he was alerted to a presence slowly walking up to him. Naruto quickly turned to see an old man walking towards him with a slow gait. The cane and the bandages all caused Naruto to feel slightly uneasy around this man.

"Hello, Naruto-san." The man politely greeted, but those who knew him would know it was all a front.

"Hello…" Naruto clearly left it hanging, waiting for an answer that never came.

"Why are you in Konoha, Naruto-san?" The man questioned, without opening his eye.

"I came here seeking to enroll as a ninja, is there a problem?" Naruto bit ack, already disliking this character.

"No, there is no problem. Well, not yet at least. You see, your back story clearly left several details…vacant." The old man replied.

"Yea, even I can't remember what my past was like." Naruto retorted.

"Right. Memory loss, was it? A very believable excuse, but ultimately flawed when we can use a Yamanaka mind scan to read every little bit of your head. I'm not here to scare you little boy, just here to deliver a warning. Keep your distance from your female teammate. She is important to Konoha, and the roots that hold up the great tree that is Konoha will not hesitate to remove any threats. Do we have an understanding?" By this time, the old man's eye opened and peered at Naruto with such intensity that Naruto was tensing for a fight.

Before Naruto could even think up a witty comeback, Kakashi appeared in a shunshin, glaring at the man with his one visible eye.

"I will not have you threatening my student, Danzo."

"Not threatening, just… advising. Well I'll take my leave now." Danzo calmly replied, while on the inside he was seething at being undermined by a mere jonin.

"Well Naruto," Kakashi said once Danzo had disappeared, "since you're still out here training I thought I might join you to see how much you truly know."

"Um, sure Kakashi, but I just realized that I'm lacking something."

"What are you lacking?"

"I don't know, but my fighting style just doesn't seem complete yet…" Naruto trailed off, clearly distressed that the foxes had not completed his training before setting him on this mission.

"Well, how about we spar for a little bit, and then I may be able to help you out in your little endeavor." Kakashi finished by settling into a loose fighting stance.

Naruto settled in a stance of his own before charging at Kakashi.

'He's clever, so reminding him that a frontal attack is horrible will not be needed. In fact, this Naruto might as well be a genjutsu.' Kakashi thought before gathering Chakra and sending it out as a shockwave through his system. Just as he did, the Naruto in front of him did indeed shift, but it was in fact the real one. 'He must have used the genjutsu to change his charge just slightly so that I blocked a non existant punch.'

Unknown to Naruto, Kakashi had in fact already dispelled his Genjutsu, and was well aware of the real attack. Once Naruto swung a leg from the side, it was promptly blocked, and his confusion was quickly taken advantage of and he ended up on the losing side of a Taijutsu match. The fighters continued on for several minutes before Naruto jumped back and bit his thumb before running through seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," Kakashi called out to take out Naruto's summoning.

The blast obscured Naruto from view, giving Kakashi an uneasy chill up his spine. 'It's not like Naruto to be taken out so easy, so where will he be coming from. Left? No. Right? No. Up? No. So that leaves…' Kakashi thought before her jumped in the air, narrowly avoiding a large amount of earth spikes that rushed up to impale him.

Kakashi, while hovering in mid-flight, felt a presence above him. He turned sharply, and blocked the axe kick aimed at his head.

"Impressive Naruto, but it'll take a little more than that to take me down," Kakashi said before grabbing Naruto's ankle and throwing him into the ground, "lets call this fight finished now."

Naruto groaned and sat back up before asking, "So, sensei. What do you think I am lacking?"

Kakashi reviewed the fight in his mind before coming up with a detailed answer.

"Well, your tactics and planning are fine, quite a few of them would have gotten me if you were stronger, but you are just a Genin. I think what you are lacking, given that we already have two ninjutsu fanatics on this squad, is a weapon."

"A weapon? What do you mean? I have tons of weapons!" Naruto confusedly replied.

"No Naruto, kunai and shuriken pale in comparison to a real weapon, like a katana or a tanto."

"Oh cool! Are there any shops around here that sell good weapons?" Naruto excitedly replied.

"I know just the place" Kakashi said before grabbing Naruto and disappearing in a shunshin.

When Naruto stopped spinning, he looked around him to see where they were. He found that they were standing right outside a nondescript shop, hidden mostly from view. Kakashi led them both inside.

"Woah," was all Naruto could say when he saw the sheer magnitude of weapons that hung off the walls or on shelves.

"This store is one that is commonly used by Chuunin and Jonin in our village, but since you seem to be such a promising young student, I'll let you get something from here." Kakashi said before he opened his infamous book and sat down on some chairs to read.

Naruto walked up and down the aisles, gazing at all the weapons around him. He couldn't decide if he wanted some small, or large, or dual weild, or throwing, or what. He was completely overwhelmed by how many weapons there were to choose from.

After about an hour of searching, Naruto had to choose between four weapons he really liked; an all black scimitar, a six foot tall scythe, a pair of Hook Swords, and finally a red Katana that seemed like it had been the cause of hundreds of deaths. Naruto, after consulting Kakashi, decided to go with the least noticable one,the six-foot scythe. Okay, maybe Naruto went against his teachers advice, but who cares, the scythe looked wicked.

After paying for the Scythe, which cost Naruto a lot of money, Kakashi gave him a sealing scroll and showed him how to use it, at least until Naruto was able to secure the scythe on him, and could carry it like a feather. It wouldn't bode well to accidentally impale a civilian with the large weapon while they walked. Kakashi then left, reminding him to get an outfit that either was subtle, or screamed intimidation. Kakashi had been in the ANBU awhile, and was a bit fed up with subtlety after all.

Next stop for Naruto before he went back to him apartment was of corse the Ninja clothing shop. On his way, he passed by Sasuke who had already changed into a new outfit. Sasuke was in clothing of all black, including his headband. (Chunin Exam's clothing).

Sasuke merely nodded in Naruto's direction before disappearing back home.

Naruto entered the store, and immediately was ambushed from the side. Naruto swiveled around to attack when he met the blue eyes of Natsumi sparkling with mirth.

"Hey Naruto, you getting your outfit as well?" Natsumi asked before dragging Naruto back over to where Kushina was busy rumaging through a large pile of clothes Natsumi had picked out.

"Yea I guess, I've had this paticular set of clothes for awhile." Naruto replied before he too started picking out clothes to try on. 'Good think the foxes told me about shopping, or else these sizes would be no help to me.'

After half an hour, Naruto was standing outside the changing rooms with Kushina, already in his outfit. Now they were just waiting on Natsumi to emerge. Naruto's outfit looked very flashy, since most of the genjutsu's he used would be all that much greater if her attracted attention. He was wearing long black pants that had a streak of red going up the sides. His shirt was completely red except for the black kanji for "fox" and "summoner" taking up the front. His black shinobi sandals matched the over all appearance, and to complete the look Naruto wore a vest similar to the Chuunin vest except it was all black, which he left open.

Naruto was broken out of his staring at the mirror by Natsumi coming out. His breath was taken away as she emerged wearing a purple shirt that exposed her toned belly, short black shorts that stopped mid thigh, and black shinobi sandals. All in all, she was very hot, and deadly looking. After they finished paying, and got extras of their outfits, they went there separate ways. Naruto saying that he had something special to show them tomorrow.

Most of the evening was taken up by Naruto practicing lifting his scythe, and thinking about where to find techniques for it. He decided that Kakashi would know some styles, and if he didn't there was always the ninja library. Naruto went to sleep, happier than he had been in a long time. He really liked being with the humans, and after his mission, he was gonna ask the fox sages if he could stay in Konoha.

Naruto awoke the next morning, and after a small breakfast went to train with his team. When he arrived there, he found out that he wasn't the first one there, surprisingly Kakashi was 15 minutes early at least and was leaning up against the railing of the bridge, reading.

"Morning, Naruto-kun. Any trouble with the scythe?" Kakashi asked without taking his eyes off of his book.

"Nope, still getting used to the weight but everything else is fine." Naruto replied before undoing the sealing scroll and grabbing his scythe before twirling it around slowly.

"Fox boy got a new weapon?" Sasuke came strolling up.

"You bet I did, broody." Naruto replied, staring at Sasuke. Kakashi could swear that sparks flew between the two before the tense atmosphere was disrupted by Natsumi arriving as well.

"Good morning everyone. From this point on, I will be training you very thoroughly. Exactly at this time, we will all do light stretches, physical training, Chakra control, and teamwork excersises. In two hours, we will split up and each one of you will go off separately and train with one of my clones, while I will remain here to train as well. There's no point of becoming a jonin if you let your skills slack off after all. At noon we will join back up and spar. Once we have completed that, we will head to the Hokage Tower to grab a mission. At first we will have to be stuck doing D-rank missions, but with this training schedule, I have no doubt that we can start C-ranks in about a month. You may wonder why we are going to be training harder than most genin team, 'besides Gai's that is,' and the answer is simple. To put it plainly, you all have potential. a lot of potentional. I have no doubt that you three will become the villages most powerful shinobi in years to come. Alright, let's begin!"

The four of them began stretching all their limbs until Kakashi felt they were limber enough, then he set them on a four mile jog, which he joined in. Although they were supposed to jog, all three of the genin began to fight for the lead, which ended up in an all out sprint that Kakashi had to join in, or else he'd look bad.

Once the three kids finished their three-way tie, and got done panting for breath, they were ordered to go through a series of push ups, sit ups, and a whole slew of physical exercises that had them aching. Next Kakashi had them do tree-walking, which Naruto had laughed at before Kakashi made him do it on his toes. After a series of falling, and only making it a fourth of the way up the tree, Kakashi led them into an area where they were blindfolded one at a time, and had to listen to a teammate while Kakashi threw balloons as fast as shuriken that they were to dodge. Needless to say, Sasuke had the most difficulty with that assignment, but eventually he learned to trust in his teammates a bit more.

Kakashi performed the shadow clone jutsu, and all three Genin were escorted in different directions. Naruto spent this time training with the scythe, Natsumi was taught some low level ninja techniques that could hide Chakra presence, or eliminate a smell, and Sasuke was taught how to use the substitution jutsu in battle, like his cousin Shisui of the Body Flicker.

The sparring went extremely well, with Sasuke paired against Naruto. Natsumi vs. Kakashi went well too. Finally, when they all three were against Kakashi, Sasuke helped them. It wasn't too pretty, but Kakashi was seeing improvement. 'In a month, I could have these kids stronger than a Chunin squad.'

Afterwards, they helped some old lady clean her attic for their mission before being dismissed to repeat the process all over again the following day.

A month passed by like this, and before long, Natsumi was in the Hokage Tower with her team, yelling at her father to give them a higher leveled mission. Naruto and Sasuke were of course backing her up, but no where near as vocally. Kakashi was busy trying to calm Natsumi down, but he too was starting to get wearisome of the lame missions.

"Well, actually, Natsumi-chan, your team has done the necessary amount of D-ranks, and therefore, if Kakashi-san says it's okay I shall give you a C-rank." Minato Namikaze replied with a twinkle in his eyes aimed at Kakashi.

"I don't know Hokage-sama, I don't feel as if they are ready for one yet…" Kakashi played along. Naruto, already used to the foxes playing this sort of trick on him, was unaffected, unlike his teammates who looked at their sensei with betrayal and surprise.

"Ok ok, Hokage-sama, I'm cracking under their stares. We request one C-rank." Kakashi mock fainted before recieiving a scroll from Minato.

Minato called outside the room for a man named Tazuna before said man came though the door obviously drunk from the way he staggered around.

"Is this supposed to be a joke, Hokage? These brats are supposed to protect me? That redhead with the scythe that's way too big for him can't possibly be a ninja." Tazuna slurred.

Tazuna was forced to sober up once Naruto's scythe was held inches from his neck, by only one hand. Naruto didn't even look like he was straining to lift the heavy object, indicating that he was indeed strong beyond his years. Naruto calmly retracted the blade and faced the Hokage once more, his whole team acting like it was a common occurence. Even Sasuke smirked a bit at the drunk's face.

"Alright everyone, you will be escorting Tazuna here back to his home in the Land of Waves. There, you will protect him as he finishes building a bridge. Dismissed." Minato ordered.

"Team. Meet Tazuna and I down at the gate in 30 minutes, pack for a two week mission." Kakashi said before leading Tazuna out the door.

30 minutes later, the whole team set off in the direction of Nami no Kuni. After an hour, Naruto began to get impatient and asked Kakashi questions about the Land of Waves.

"Are there any ninja forces in Wave?" Naruto asked, never having known about the smaller countries.

"No Hidden villages, but we may in fact run into other ninjas on their own mission. It is actually quite common to see ninja from other villages, but we all have an understanding to not interfere unless during times of war." Kakashi replied.

Tazuna slightly stiffened when he mentioned running into other ninjas, and everyone on the team noticed it, but they knew better than to pressure their client, even so, they all became a little more on guard.

Before long, the entire group noticed a puddle in the middle of the road. Tazuna and Natsumi looked away, uninterested, but Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi all saw through the deceptive puddle.

Deciding to let things play out, the group kept walking past the puddle.

"One down." The entire group turned to see Kakashi tied between a chain. The chain then constricted, and Kakashi was ripped into pieces.

Tazuna screamed, but the Genin were used to seeing Kakashi substitute and just got into formation.

"Natsumi, guard Tazuna, Naruto with me." Sasuke commanded before charging at the two, Naruto already unclasping his scythe. Naruto then threw the scythe horizontally right at Sasuke's back, and watched him do a flip to avoid it, catching the ninja unaware. It was a tactic they practiced multiple times until it was perfected.

The two masked ninjas jumped into the air to avoid the scythe, but then Sasuke landed on the scythe buried in the tree and jumped up to meet them. They got ready to claw at Sasuke before Sasuke became distorted, and grew five arms.

The two ninja were so stunned at the idea, that they forgot their other enemy, the one casting the genjutsu. Sasuke quickly knocked them out with a quick chop to the neck before tying them up.

Meanwhile, Tazuna could only watch in amazement as these three took down enemy ninja like nobodies business. Suddenly a shadow fell over him, and he turned to meet the icy glare of the one eyed cyclops, who didn't look too happy.

"Tazuna, I believe you owe us some answers.." Kakashi trailed off.

_10 minutes later_

"…and that's why I need to build this bridge, to save Wave from Gato." Tazuna ended his story out of breath.

"I'll let my team decide, it's their lives after all. This mission is easily B-rank already, and could jump up to A-rank." Kakashi warned his team.

"I'm all for it. You trained us harder than any other team, so now we have to prove the training paid off." Naruto said while twirling his scythe.

"I think we should help Wave. There are people suffering there." Natsumi said somberly.

"If fox boy is going, then I guess my pride would suffer a blow if I chickened out now." Sasuke stated with a smirk, his relationship with his team improved drastically, and he no longer was the arrogant Uchiha he used to be.

Tazuna heaved a breath he didn't know he was holding as they continued their journey towards Wave. On their way, they had to cross a river, and the boat man seemed afraid, but all in all it wasn't that bad.

Soon enough, while they were walking through some particularly heavy mist, everyone heard a rustle to their right. Naruto and Sasuke both threw a kunai in the direction.

They, of course, were embarrassed when Natsumi started yelling at them for almost killing such a cute snow white rabbit. All Kakashi was thinking was, 'why is it's fur white? In this season, it should be a darker shade. Of course!' "Drop!" Kakashi yelled before everyone hit the ground, Naruto dragging Tazuna down with him.

A large cleaver-like sword embedded itself in a tree above them, and a man jumped onto its handle. The mad was wearing grey pants, and had snow camo arm covers. He was of course shirtless, you can't be intimidating with a shirt on.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan, look at you teaching a bunch of brats." The man called down at them.

"Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsmen." Kakashi returned, his hand already on his headband.

"Relax Kakashi, just hand over the bridge builder, and I'll let your little team live."

"Not a chance, it seems we are going to have to exchange pleasantries the official ninja way. Team, guard Tazuna, you are no match for this ninja." Kakashi said before removing his headband completely, showing the entire world a red Sharingan eye.

"Already taking it out to fight me, I'm honoured." Zabuza replied before yanking his sword out of the tree and disappearing into mist that randomly decided to grace the war zone.

'This is not normal mist, he's creating it.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"There are eight points that I could slice to kill you, which one shall it be?" Zabuza seemed to be projecting his voice all over, while releasing a dose of K.I.

The Genin were slightly shaking because of the K.I. but Kakashi had already trained them on its effects, so they were no too badly intimidated. Suddenly, a large shape appeared in the middle of their group with a sword already in motion towards Tazuna.

Before it could hit, however, Kakashi had appeared and blocked it with a kunai.

Naruto, seeing that the swordsman was distracted, rammed a kunai into it's back, only to watch it burst into water. Kakashi was forced to jump forward to protect his squad from another slash, but he ended up getting a fatal cut, only to splash into water himself.

Their little fight was going extremely well for "Team Kakashi," that is until a clone that Kakashi stabbed ended up transforming into a puddle that surrounded him inside a giant ball of water.

"Team, get out of here! Take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled at his students, hoping they would listen to him, even though he knew they wouldn't.

"No way sensei, those who leave comrades are lower than trash right? Natsumi, you and Sasuke go get him out while I cast some Genjutsu from here." Naruto mumbled so Zabuza couldn't hear.

The two nodded before separating and charging at Zabuza. Zabuza tried to make two clones out of water to combat them, but for some reason, whatever he did, he couldn't get the water to form right to make the clones. In the end, Sasuke and Natsumi met up on each side of Zabuza and simultaneously attacked.

Even with one arm occupied, Zabuza was able to dodge both attacks, and knock them both backwards. Naruto then threw his scythe, disguised as a couple of kunai by Genjutsu, right at Zabuza's vulnerable form. Unfortunately, Naruto was still not that good with throwing his scythe, so the part that hit was the handle. It still caused no small amount of pain for Zabuza, who wasn't bracing for an attack. It caused him just enough pain that a drop kick from Natsumi was able to rip his hand out of the sphere of water that held Kakashi.

Kakashi wasted no time in dealing with Zabuza, and in only a few moments, hand him pinned up against a tree. Before he could move in for the kill, however, a Mist hunter-nin had arrived and killed Zabuza on the spot before taking his body. Kakashi let them go; although he realized instantly that something was wrong with the whole picture.

Kakashi turned back to face his team, and stumbled slightly before covering back up his Sharingan. Had he not trained himself into the ground after leaving ANBU, he probably would have felt much worse after an extended use of the Sharingan.

The group continued their journey to Tazuna's house, but kept their guard up the whole way, never knowing who else Gato had hired to kill Tazuna.

Eventually, they made their way all the way to Tazuna's house, which was opened by a very attractive lady named Tsunami. After a short dinner that consisted of small talk, everyone went to bed, exhausted.

The following morning, every one woke up a little sore, mostly Kakashi. After a delicious breakfast, Kakashi went over how they were going to guard Tazuna during the next week.

"Listen up team, Zabuza is alive," Kakashi started, surprisingly no one acted incredibly shocked minus Tazuna, "Hunter-nin do not use senbon, so it is obvious that Zabuza was rescued by another enemy. We will have approximately one week to train before Zabuza has healed from his wounds, so we will alternate guarding Tazuna and training. I'm still wounded from yesterday, so I'll stay here with Natsumi and train, Sasuke and Naruto will go watch the bridge, tomorrow I'll flip it, and we shall continue this until I feel like you've all reached an acceptable level." Kakashi then bid Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna goodbye as he led Natsumi out to train.

Once Sasuke and Naruto saw the bridge, they just gathered on a railing and watched. Soon enough, they both were extremely bored, and began lightly sparring to keep the boredom away. It was only after a small fire jutsu of Sasuke's almost ignited a pile of wood that they decided to stop messing around and just protect Tazuna.

A man eventually put down his lumber and walked up to Tazuna, several head swiveled to follow his form, so Naruto and Sasuke knew something was about to happen. Sure enough, the pathetic man made a big scene about leaving, and Tazuna yelled at him before getting back to work himself. The man left, and soon another left. After a few more left, Naruto and Sasuke decided that it was time to ease the bridge builder of some stress. They each summoned three Shadow Clones using the technique Kakashi taught them before helping Tazuna carry lumber around and otherwise help out. It was such a boon to Tazuna, that he figured with their help, he could get done days earlier.

"Actually, Tazuna-san. Natsumi can literally make hundred of these clones, she's coming to guard you tomorrow, maybe you can get her to help as well." Naruto offered.

Tazuna paled at the thought of a hundred more workers before he shook his head and smiled, thanking the boys. No one saw the trail of tears wind their way out of Tazuna's eyes, 'Wave will be safe. My daughter will be safe. Inari will be safe.'

After many hours, the workers all went home and Tazuna led the two Genin back to his house. Once there, they spotted Natsumi sleeping on a couch looking extremely bruised up and exhausted. Naruto and Sasuke didn't know this, but since Natsumi was the host of the Kyuubi, she was able to go under more strenuous training before a fight because all her muscles would heal in record time anyway.

Dinner was somewhat awkward when Tsunami's son, Inari, joined them and called them out on the fact they were going to die. Of course, this caused Natsumi, Naruto, and Sasuke to all narrow their eyes at the kid. Once Inari started talking about how they didn't know what it was like to suffer, the room got silent. Natsumi abruptly stood up and left, all the while thinking about being betrayed and almost killed by Mizuki.

"I'll go out and get her." Naruto said before leaving after Natsumi.

Everyone else at the left, including Kakashi who was going to have a word with Inari.

With Naruto, he was busy running through the trees while using a genjutsu to hide his Chakra presence because he knew Natsumi would try to hide hers if she knew she was being followed.

Eventually, Naruto heard the sound of trees collapsing, and shunshined towards it. Once he got there. Naruto found a clearing that was obviously not a clearing moments before, and Natsumi was standing in the middle of it.

Naruto decided to stand by and wait until Natsumi calmed down, but all that time he learned several important things about Natsumi. First, she really hated it when people gave up like Inari. Second, she was incredibly strong when she let herself go. Finally, that whole mess with Mizuki scarred her more than he realized.

Natsumi was boiling with anger, and a hint of betrayal. She was so preoccupied with her suicidal training that she never noticed when the training stopped and she was weeping into Naruto's shirt for dear life.

They stayed like that for a couple minutes before Naruto led them both back to the house to sleep. Many hours later, in the morning sunlight, a lone figure plucked various herbs to heal his master before heading back to their hideout.

Somewhere else in the land of waves, Gato was busy looking with contempt and hatred at Zabuza, and the boy who broke his arm.

"One more shot! I'll give you one more chance, do not screw up this time! In fact, I've hired an extra hand to help you out." Gato smirked before gesturing to the open door that footsteps were originating from. Outside in the hallway, a lone figure smiled, this would be the mission that lets her eliminate another Uzumaki. Konoha already had one Uzumaki, and that was the red headed devil herself, Kushina Uzumaki. They would be find without another of that cursed clan that killed her brother. Oh she would have revenge, on that Mai swore.

Back with the Genin team, Naruto was busy training with Sasuke as Kakashi and Natsumi guarded the bridge. Kakashi was nice enough to leave a clone to instruct them, but still, the training was less than what they could accomplish back in Konoha. Without the threat of Zabuza and his mysterious follower. Nevertheless, the boys followed their drill sergeants every command, never stopping from pushing themselves ever higher.

The rest of the week passed by like this, and before long, the whole team was setting out towards the bridge for an all out war. As they were leaving, Naruto cast a Genjutsu that would hide Tsunami's house from view. Just as a little extra insurance.

"What is this!?" Tazuna yelled before running towards a pile of bodies. When he got closer, one of them whispered before passing out, "D-d-d-demon."

Tazuna quickly hid behind some lumber at the command of Kakashi, as they looked towards the sound of footsteps emerging from the heavy mist.

The group was already in formation and tensed, but they couldn't help but shiver once they saw Zabuza accompanied by the hunter-nin.

"Ah Kakashi, I hope you are looking to a rematch just as much as I am." Zabuza called out from across the bridge.

"I do hope that you have recovered enough." Kakashi retorted, earning a scowl from Zabuza.

"Care to make a little agreement?" Zabuza taunted.

"What about?"

"You can pit all three of those brats against Haku, but they will still lose." Zabuza smirked.

"Actually, I bet we will only need one. Sasuke!" Kakashi order before watching Sasuke charge at Haku.

Haku returned the charge, and both of them met in the middle. After a couple of seconds of intense fighting, Sasuke managed to knock Haku back on his rear.

"Stop going easy." Zabuza called out before Haku seemed to have gotten stronger.

After another round of evenly sided taijutsu, Haku began speaking. "Now I have you at a disadvantage. The mist in the air is on my side, and I have already occupied one of your hands." Haku said before running through a series of one-handed seals.

Everyone watched in awe as thousands of tiny ice senbon formed over Sasuke's head, pointed directly at him.

"Ice Style: Thousand Needle Death" Haku called out before the area was obliterated.

Sasuke, however, had already substituted with a crate on the side. He appeared behind Haku and attempted to kick him in the back, it didn't work. Haku then created a large dome of ice, with Sasuke trapped inside, and disappeared into the mirrors.

Kakashi made a move to go forward, but Zabuza appeared in front of him, and stood in his way. "If you leave to help him, I'll kill your whole team." Zabuza said before he disappeared into the mist. Kakashi was forced onto the defensive as Zabuza struck again and again, always hiding inside the mist whenever Kakashi would try to counter.

Instead of Kakashi, Natsumi ran into the dome to help an already pincushioned Sasuke out, leaving Naruto to guard Tazuna. He couldn't use his genjutsu to help any of his teammates because he had no idea where Kakashi or Zabuza was, and Haku's ice dome was emitting way too much Chakra for him to tamper with it.

Unfortunately for Naruto, who had already hidden Tazuna in a genjutsu, he was forced to leap to the left to avoid becoming impale by an earth spear that jutted out of the ground at him. Naruto was forced to leap over a few more before the barrage finally stopped. Naruto started when he heard clapping, followed by the sound of footsteps getting closer.

"Good monkey, little Uzumaki, but your life ends here. Earth Style: Mud River!" The female sounding voice called out before Naruto was slammed into from behind, and catapaulted off of the bridge, and into the river below.

Naruto emerged from the river, and quickly used his Chakra to stand on top of it. He heard a splash behind him, and turned around to face probably one of the most gorgeous women in the world. She was dressed in the usual rock-nin getup, except for the slash across her forhead protector.

"Admiring your killer, Uzumaki?" The women taunted.

"More like enjoying how you look before I mess you up." Naruto bit back, suppressing a smirk at the scowl his opponent was wearing.

"Cocky are we? Kid you're just a Genin, and I'm a B-rank missing-nin. This fight will hardly last five minutes."

"Well then don't waste my time, angry-chan," she narrowed her eyes at that nickname, "lets begin." Naruto stated before he unclasped his scythe from his back and stood it beside him on the river.

"Agreed. Earth Style: Mountain Creation" Mai called out before several earth mountains emerged from under the river and created an area where she could use her earth style to its best.

Naruto threw three kunai at Mai before watching he dodge all of them, although it appears she didn't notice the explosive tag he stuck on one of them. It went off behind her, but before Naruto could celebrate his easy victory, she melted into mud.

'Mud clone, so where is she?' Naruto thought before jumping to avoid a pair of hands that emerged from the water. He was forced to jump onto Mai's little island, which he knew was a bad idea when it all started caving in on itself where he stood. Naruto found out he couldn't move and did the only thing he knew how.

Naruto substituted with his scythe just as he was about to be trapped, and easily pulled his scythe back out. He lunged forward towards a laughing Mai before engaging her in a hand-to-scythe battle. One which she was surprisingly adept at. It was only by slightly changing the direction of the scythe at the last moment, that he was able to actually land a scratch on her arm.

The victory was short lived, however, when she kicked him right in the chest and launched him off of her mountain and into the water below.

While Naruto was trying to swim to the surface, he was cut off by a giant mouth of earth swallowing him whole, attempting to drown him under water where his strength would be limited.

Instead of panicking, Naruto took this time to meditate. He opened his eyes when he realized what he must do. Naruto looked down at his hand before bringing it to his mouth. He bit it and ran through seals before slamming his hand down on the roof of his prison.

"Summoning Jutsu!"


End file.
